A motivational speaker who used his persuasive skills to scam investors out of more than $1.7 million has been jailed for 13 years.
Christopher Philip Koch, 60, lived in New Zealand from 2001 and was extradited back to Australia in 2007 to face fraud charges.
Koch invited his victims to
invest in a fictitious high yield investment scheme, using some of the funds to gamble on horse racing, the Victorian County Court heard.
Judge Carolyn Douglas said Koch was in financial trouble at the time of his offending from 1996 to 1999.
She said the former motivational speaker, who had worked for some high profile companies, knew he had the skills to persuade others when he promoted the fraudulent scheme.
Judge Douglas said Koch was an intelligent and educated man who duped his friends and others whom he would have considered less sophisticated.
"They were susceptible to your powers of persuasion," she said.
Last month, Koch was found guilty by a jury of 15 counts of obtaining property by deception, seven of obtaining financial advantage by deception and one breach of the Corporations Act.
Koch, of Point Cook in Melbourne's west, left Australia in 2001 and settled in New Zealand before being extradited to Australia in 2007.
He was jailed on Thursday for 13 years and two months and will serve a minimum 10 years before being eligible for parole.
- AAP
